Loukas J. Spanos, Lena J. Tsipouri and Manolis D. Xanthakis
Corporate governance (CG) has mainly focused on highly dispersed corporations. This paper has two objectives: to enrich the debate in this area and to contribute to the increasing…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate governance (CG) has mainly focused on highly dispersed corporations. This paper has two objectives: to enrich the debate in this area and to contribute to the increasing body of literature by exploring the CG of the listed family firms in Greece; and to place the CG practices of Greek family firms within the international debate, especially in the framework of a small open capital market. In addition, this paper presents an attempt to quantify the compliance of family firms with international best practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology consisted of the creation of a questionnaire reflecting the Greek CG code and other well‐regarded CG codes, like the OECD principles. The authors constructed a CG rating system and applied it to distinguish family from non‐family firms.
Findings
The main conclusion is that the family firms lack an efficient CG mechanism and they demonstrated poor governance compared with non‐family firms.
Practical implications
The results disclose the potential strengths and weaknesses of the existing CG framework of the family‐owned firms. The methodology applies in a small open economy and may have significant implications in other similar capital markets.
Originality/value
Methodologically, the merit of the exercise lies in its approach toward the creation of “collectively subjective” weightings, and is valuable to policymakers and academics.
Details
Keywords
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of corporate governance (CG) developments in Greece and has two objectives: to enrich the debate in this area and to contribute to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of corporate governance (CG) developments in Greece and has two objectives: to enrich the debate in this area and to contribute to the increasing literature by presenting the main aspects of the Greek CG framework; and to place the current CG developments and trends in Greece within the international debate, especially in the light of the recent debate to improve and convergence CG in the EU.
Design/methodology/approach
First, reviews the evolution of the CG debate in Greece and its implication at the EU level. Second, provides a short view of the institutional‐economic environment in Greece, as it influences corporate governance practices. Then analyzes the CG mechanisms in the light of the recent key reforms. Finally, summarizes the findings and proceeds with some critical points and recommendations.
Findings
The general finding is that the development of regulatory reforms was mostly an endogenous process influenced mainly by the speculative events in the Greek capital market during 1999.
Practical implications
The evolution of the Greek CG may have significant implication, such as that the Greek market is a newly mature euro‐area market and CG is supposed to be a key factor for the competitive transformation of the capital market and the business world. In addition, the evolutionary path of CG in Greece may have significant implication for the new EU member states.
Originality/value
The paper shows how the CG practices evolve in a small open economy influenced by speculative events and is valuable to policymakers, regulators and academics.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to look inside the “black box” in corporate governance (CG) measurement, and shed some light on how to construct a transparent, reliable and valid…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look inside the “black box” in corporate governance (CG) measurement, and shed some light on how to construct a transparent, reliable and valid index, considering equally both the academics and practitioners’ perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
A synthesized literature review is presented and a CG index is developed combining the strengths of three different methodologies: the Delphi method, the classical test theory (CTT) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This approach helps authors to break the process into separate steps and to select the appropriate techniques to support their decision regarding the norms, the criteria, the variables and the weights that someone should use to construct a CG index.
Findings
The authors’ analysis indicates that a well-designed CG index requires a combination of research methods to identify the best options to solve several methodological issues in index construction. For the application of this multi-methodology in Greece, the authors used two equal and independent samples to explore the different perspectives regarding the importance of the index criteria and sub-criteria. This process provides evidence that the opinion of academics and practitioners in Greece tend to converge. Moreover, it is found that this multi-methodology produces the highest variation in CG scores and ranking orders, as opposed to a traditional approach, in measuring CG disclosure, an important issue with econometric implications.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study are associated with the methods used.
Practical implications
This paper provides practical implications for investors and commercial vendors. For the former, it highlights the need to be more cautious and/or suspicious when they use CG ratings, meaning that they should comprehend the base of the ratings models, and for the latter, it demonstrates the importance of enhancing the transparency in CG indices construction.
Originality/value
The value of the paper lies in improved understanding of the methodological issues in constructing CG indices. This is quite interesting because this approach could serve as a roadmap for other researchers.